Paul Kimmage on the crimes and conviction of Tom Humphries
Having seen fellow sports writer David Walsh become embroiled in the controversy around jailed journalist colleague Tom Humphries, Paul Kimmage has written a no holds barred piece on his perspective.
Humphries, who wrote for The Irish Times, was jailed this week for 2½ years for the grooming and defilement of a teenage girl.
It emerged recently David Walsh was one of two people who gave the court a character reference for Humphries.
And Lance Armstrong would join the fray, Tweeting that Walsh's situation "warmed" his heart.
We covered Armstrong's intervention at the time and also David Walsh's apology.
And we will conclude our coverage with this piece about Kimmage's response, mainly because of the difference between his and Walsh's approaches and the interest in both within the cycling community.
Today in the Sunday Independent, Paul Kimmage has written of how he learned of the allegations against Humphries.
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He said he went to see him a couple of times, once in a psychiatric hospital and then at apartments where he was living waiting for trial.
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Kimmage also reveals that Humphries framed what had happened to suit himself. He said it was suggested the victim had consented, didn't want to go to the gardai and didn't want to see him jailed.
However, even before the Tweets sent by Humphries to his victim emerged Kimmage ceased contact with Humphries.
He suggests he felt some guilt about this, until the true nature of his crimes emerged in court.
Kimmage also said he went to the sentencing hearing last week and as he emerged he suddenly felt the media focus on him.
"I'm spotted by a TV cameraman and a photographer as I leave the court. They're moving towards me now and tracking me down the steps," he writes.
"It's uncomfortable. I'm not immune to a spotlight but this feels different. Like I'm being judged. Like I've done something wrong.
"Do I run? Duck for cover? Cover my face with a scarf?"
He adds while "Tom Humphries was one of the all-time great sportswriters" he would never write about sport again and "won't be remembered for his talent".
"He will be remembered for bombarding her with 16,000 sexually explicit text messages," Kimmage writes.
"He will be remembered for coaxing her to meet him for the first time, outside her school on a Sunday morning, a few months after she had turned 16.
"He will be remembered for bringing her to his apartment; for exploiting her; for defiling her."
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